CHAPTER V. 



THE WORKERS. 



Distinguishing Characteristics — Supposed Differences of Function 

 among them — Sir John Lubbock's Experiments — Fertile Workers — 

 Length of Life — " Black Bees " — Duties of Workers. 



The workers are by far the most numerous, and 

 in some sense, the most important party in the com- 

 monwealth of bees. They are smaller in size than 

 either queens or drones. Microscopic examination, 



a. i. 



Fig. g. — A Worker Bee. 

 w. Natural size. h. Magnified. 



and the fact of their occasionally developing the 

 power of laying eggs, prove that they are really un- 

 developed females. It is hardly correct, therefore, 

 to call them, as has been so often done, neuters. The 

 chief structural differences to be noted in them, as 

 compared with the other two classes in the hive, 



D 2 



